PV Gap

Daniel Said:

How fast does solar cells move a motor?

We Answered:

A solar cell puts out DC power. The motor you should use will be a permanent magnet DC motor. the permanent magnets for a low voltage motor like this should be of the rare earth variety.

A DC motor's speed will increase with increasing voltage assuming that the current is sufficient to provide enough torque for the load. Most of these cells put out enough current for small loads on small motors so the 1.0 Volt solar cell (or an array of them connected in series) will have the most benefit to obtain a higher speed for a given load on the DC motor.

I hope this helps you with your project!!

Andrea Said:

15 v max .15 amp solar cells to charge AA batteries?

We Answered:

Silicon solar panels are basically current sources (up to their max power voltage), so you could connect a 15V panel to a 1.2 volt NiCd battery, and it would charge at 150 mA, or connect it to a 12 volt lead acid battery, and charge at 150 mA (approximately).

It would take all day, maybe 2 days, to charge a AA battery in this way. And you would want to disconnect the batteries when they got fully charged (when they start getting warm).

Note that since the panel is a current source, you could charge 8, 9, 10, maybe even 11 AA batteries in seies. Might as well get your money's worth from the panel.

NiMH batteries don't charge very well in this way - they need pulse charging - but you can get some recharging from the solar panel.

Miguel Said:

Does anyone knows where I can find free on-line books on making solar modules from solar cells myself?

We Answered:

There is a lot of information available on the internet. A Yahoo search for "make your own solar panels" (include the quotation marks in the Yahoo search box) yields 714 results. If you do the same search, and are willing to spend a little time exploring, I'm sure that you will quickly find the information you seek.

Good luck with your search.